November 2008

November 29, 2008

So there have been some parts of this year that have been incredible, wonderful, amazing. I’ve never laughed as hard or as long as I have this year.

But there’s also this other part to this past year that I would delicately describe as a prolonged ‘shit storm’. Family, web, Bingo, day job stuff has made me on edge and although I think I’ve been handling it OK (maybe not brilliantly but definitely OK) I realized a few days ago that I could go no further in addressing and solving the crisises without a vacation. A real vacation. The kind where, you know, you loaf around. And then you loaf around some more. And then, whoops, I’m sorry I can’t talk right now, I’m too busy loafing. That kind of vacation.

So I chose this weekend to go Montreal. I’ve heard how great it is for years but never had the time and money at the same time.. but Thanksgiving weekend created a perfect storm and so here I am.

I discovered one of the better gay b and b’s through some online research, made the reservations over the phone on the train on the way up and arrived in Montreal a half hour earlier than expected. Wow, that never happens!

Upon arrival I discovered a promoter friend from New York was also staying here by complete coincidence. After some walking St. Catherines (the big gay street here) for a bit and scoping out the area, I returned to the hotel to grab a little sleep.

The promoter friend and I went out later last night to the dance club Parking and found it to be a rather good crowd. I was surprised that the downstairs bar, Tunnel, has a back room. Have those returned everywhere but in the States? Not that they hold my interest … a lot of furtive groping and zero light.. that’s a turn on for some but for me, I’d rather know whose hoo hah I’m holding on to.

I eventually left to check out the Black Eagle, the local leather bar and made friends with the bartender and closed down the joint finding companionship in a piece of halfway but not completely decent pizza. I ended the evening sitting naked in the hotel’s hot tub incredibly relaxed and happy to feel the stress unload from my body. Or at least start to.

Today I spent the day loping around the city taking pictures and falling for this place. I love the old world architecture, the ultra modern clothes, the scruffy look of the people (even the women!) and the geniality that pervades the city.

But as fun as criss crossing the city all day today was, by the time I got back about a half hour ago I just wanted to sit in the hot tub for a few minutes before I took a nap in preparation for tonight’s club adventures (part 2).

Well, you can imagine my surprise when I approached the hot tub room and heard some grunting. There’s a weight room down the hall (which, incidentally has a big picture window open to the street) and I thought the sounds much be coming from there. But nope, there were two guys just about to start screwing while straddling the hot tub.

This is not a family hotel.

Now at this moment there’s a little pop up window that appeared in front of me in mid air that said “you have a couple different choices here, what do you want to do?”

Do you A. simply walk away and come back later (but uhm maybe not until the hot tub has regenerated itself a couple times) or I could B. enter and be all nerdy “Hi Guys, What are you doing!? How was your day?” This would be lots of fun because I think people who have sex in public rely on other people to be shocked and just go away rather than say something. Tapping them on the shoulder and asking in my most Midwestern twang “hey, I’m not interrupting you or anything AM I??” But I’m not that much of a dick. Really. (But it does sound pretty fun, doesn’t it?)

Option C. was to simply walk in and sit on the bench next to the hot tub and watch or, if I was really brazen simply choose option D. and get into the other end of the hot tub and pretend as if nothing is happening. Both of which could also be fun.

Naturally the final option, E., is to simply join in and hope that I’m interested in them and they’re interested in me. This last option happens all the time in the Porn Universe but doesn’t really happen all that often back here on Planet Earth.

After weighing the options, I ended up going down the hall to work out a little. I know it’s a dull choice but I knew if I went in and tried to join in, the bad porn music would be playing in my head and I wouldn’t be able to stop laughing. This is one of the many by products of being in and reviewing a lot of gay porn. Sexual situations like these tend to suddenly become ironic.

As I did a few chest presses, the fucking-grunting commenced and I found that I was getting turned on, at least a little.

Because my corneas were burnt out when I opened the door to see the sight that I saw, but I didn’t really get a good look at the guys and now, with the grunting and huffing and puffing, I got curious who they were, what they looked like... it sounded like the bottom was getting pounded but good and I wanted to walk in and say "I'll have what he's having"...

I pushed open the door ever so slightly and found that they had shifted positions: bigger of the two guys was draped face front over the side of the hot tub and his buddy, lover, husband, guy he picked up on the street 20 minutes ago (?) was fucking him royally from behind standing in the hot tub.

The top was a wiry guy of about 50 who noticed me staring and grinned and for some odd reason I can only chalk up to some buried down deep button that has to always react to uncomfortable things in a humorous way, I simply gave him a big toothy smile and two thumbs up. I guess that’s the non verbal version of the nerdy inquiry that I had thought of doing before.

The door closed, the grunting resumed, I came up to my room and realized that not only did I get a good laugh out of it thus reducing my stress, but I now have a new masterbation scene to play in my head. Who needs porn??

Tonight, it’s a feast for those of you who love to go out to the clubs and bars here in Manhattan because there are about a dozen really terrific events going on around town none of which you can miss but all of which start at or after 10pm.

Naturally this means that you, yes you, you lucky dog can come to Porno Bingo tonight from 8pm to 10pm and join us for not one, two or four but five fantastic games and win not only gay XXX porn but cash. Yes, cash as it’s the return of JACKPOT PORNO BINGO! No charity, no stars, just myself and co-host, the biggest Bingo bitch in the five boroughs, Miss Amanda Takehometomother.. and she’s cranky so you know we’re in for some fun tonight! Plus, with rent due on Monday, this might be a nice way to pick up a little cash so you don’t have to stand on a street corner… again!

We’re at Pisces http://www.piscesbar.com located at 8 Christopher Street near 6th Ave. in Manhattan from 8pm to 10pm. There’s no cover and the drinks are cheap and the men are cheaper.

So after your Thanksgiving day feed ‘em and weep stupor subsides, you’ll be ready to go out again on Friday and if you want start the holiday season off right, drag yourself over to the Cutting Room Friday night November 28th located at 19 West 24th Street) for a night of African drumming, singing and dance of Pape Mbaye. Ron Lasko and his Spin Cycle gang are producing the show which features a performer from Senegal who was forced to flee his home after being outed as homosexual. You can get more info at Ron’s website at http://www.spincyclenyc.com

Ron’s also producing a big celebrity auction on Monday December 1st aka World AIDS Day which you can find out more about by going to http://www.bid2beatAIDS.com

Now while you’re in the holiday spirit, consider being a “Secret Santa” to one of the many GLBT youths that are being taken care of by Kate over at Sylvia’s Place, the homeless shelter for GLBT youth that’s run by the Metropolitan Community Church. You can do everything from responding to letters to giving gifts so that the kids have something to open Christmas morning. If you’ve got a few minutes (and a couple bucks) to spare, email Kate at kate_barnhart@yahoo.com

If you, like me, enjoy Visual AIDS’ annual Postcards from the Edge event, you should know that this years event has been moved to early January. This is bad news for those of you who go buying postcards as Christmas/holiday gifts but it’s not too late to give as “Don’t Let The Door Hit George Bush On The Ass” presents (fifty some odd days and counting).

The preview party is Friday January 9th and the benefit sale is one day only on Saturday January 10th. There’ll be over 1500 original postcard sized works of art to buy for $75 each or 5 for $300. You never know the identity of the artist until after you’ve made your purchase, which is kinda fun.

I have a special place in my heart for the event as a couple years ago two artists independent of each other made Will Clark art postcards. Now even though the ego was bruised that they didn’t sell (waahhh) I ended up being the beneficiary of the works and they now hang framed in my hallway at home. You can get full information on the event by going to http://www.thebody.com/visualaids/current/postcards2008.html

I’m sure you’ve seen this site but it bears repeating… have you seen the link to the San Francisco Gate’s list of people, businesses that contributed to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign. http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/

And if you haven’t yet sent your letter to the IRS complaining that the Mormon Church’s political activity (non profit status is supposed to refrain from such things) then do it today because this is a fight that needs to be won. You can go to http://lds501c3.wordpress.com/ to get all the information you’ll need to be involved. My friend Mark put it succinctly like this:

“1) Print out complaint form 13909. All the necessary information except the date and your name and contact information has already been filled in. 2) Print out the "Yes on 8" letter that was read out in all Mormon churches in June 8th. And, when your anger subsides,3) Mail the form and letter to the IRS.

Thank you for helping me take a stand against the Mormon's attempt to push their bigoted views into civil law.”

Finally, I would never leave you on a sour note so here, enjoy Rick Astley’s late 80s “Never Gonna Give You Up” Yeah, I know Barry Manilow has recorded a new version of it (not really that much different than the one from 20 years ago so it sort of feels redundant) but the Rick version is better if only because Rick has fantastic hair (or at least he did.. who knows what’s happened to it since 1987!) A side note: back in the late 80s I lived in London for awhile when I was just coming out and thought Rick was the hottest thing ever.. re-looking at this video though I have paused to wonder: “what was I thinking?”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI (the embedding code for the video – and all versions of it – have been disabled.. weird huh?)

If you are, like me, a member of several social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Plaxo) you don’t need any more. That’s why I literally gave a shriek when I opened up my emailbox this morning to find that I’d been invited to join yet another site… http://www.wayn.com which stands for Where Are You Now? The objective of the site is to ‘meet people from different places, share your traveling experiences and make a difference on global issues”. I guess all that is an admirable goal but really, can’t we just do that with what we’ve got already?

Anyway, you may have noticed that this blog now features my recent “Twitter” comments which is really the same comments I’m making on My Space, Facebook and Plaxo. I guess the goal is to make them all different but let’s be honest, who has the time? After the past few weeks of racing between sites and updating them frantically, I decided about a week ago that it was time to work smarter not harder. This is a lesson I should have learned about a decade ago but better late than never I suppose.

So if you wanna follow me on Twitter, I’m “willclarkworld” as the regular “willclark” was already taken (booo!) and naturally you are a Facebook friend (well, at last count, nearly 900 of you are).

It took some work but after switching from a regular site to the blog thing and doing all the social networking stuff, I feel as though I’ve just about caught up. Naturally, since things online move so quickly, I’m probably already months behind.. but whatever.

November 24, 2008

Welcome to Monday.. yes it’s the day that we all dread, but just think of it this way, this is an incredibly short work week for most of us and then we’re just 24 days away from an incredible 11 day vacation extravaganza (if you work it right, those holidays are on Thursdays after all!).

Anyway, I’m here with you and you can keep it right here, I’m not going any where any time soon so check back often (ok probably just once a day because honest to God, how do those bloggers do it with a dozen entries a day.. don’t they have anything else to do? I mean, I’m glad they do but sometimes it’s bewildering and not just a little exhausting to even visit those sites.. but I digress).

So this was sent to me just as I was finishing up this blog and I just had to include it because .. well, it speaks for itself... Hugh Jackman is simply fantastic and this cover makes him look like a Raging Stallion exclusive. Now isn't THAT a pretty picture to think about (thank God I'm typing this before bed so I can do a little Hugh Jackman Steve Cruz fantasy.. mmm mmm .. wait, where was I?) Oh yeah, this blog... I don't know or care of AUSTRALIA will be good, because I'm going to fuel my Hugh Jackman fetish. Yum.

Speaking of Cruz, the big win this week in the mail box was Raging Stallion photographer Kent Taylor’s “Magnum” book. This is an incredible work; a compilation of some of the more recent Raging Stallion models – Jake Deckard, Damien Crosse, Logan McCree, Ricky Sinz along with some stalwarts Jay Black, Francois Sagat, Arpad Miklos, Manuel Torres, Rafael Alencar, Michael Vincenzo, Shane Rollins and many many others including Hussein, Miguel Leonn, Roman Ragazzi etc. Because it’s Kent’s work, it’s naturally just incredibly beautiful. And beautifully put together by the Bruno Gmunder people. You can go to http://www.ragingstallion.com to find the book to get it for yourself or and if you want to see more of Kent’s other work, go to his site, http://www.kenttaylorphotography.com (and thanks kent for the nice note inscribed in the copy of the book you sent me … means a lot!)

It’s only a week til the Stallion’s TO THE LAST MAN is released but it is available in pre order so, you know, you could just order them both at the same time.

On a related note, there’s also a TO THE LAST MAN calendar with photography by Geof Teague and while the shots are of great quality, it’s a grim way to spend the year – with photos of dead characters from the movie all bloodied or laying face down in a body of water. Not especially erotic for me but hey everyone’s got their thing. (eek)

In other releases, Dirty Bird Pictures’ latest flick is Jett Blakk’s RINGLEADER, a wrestling movie featuring really good looking muscular guys who have lots of tats. I wish I could tell you if there was a plot or not, but I, uhm wasn’t really paying attention because the guys are pretty damn hot. The guys have been culled from the Active Duty line and so if you like ‘em there, you’ll love ‘em here. The dialogue is a little too much macho posturing stuff (you know, like calling each other ‘bitch’) but when one guy has a mouthful of cock or their singlets are showing off their incredible bodies, well, you don’t really mind all that much. <wink> You can find it at http://www.dirtybirdpictures.com and tell ‘em Will sent ya.

Finally, if you’re actually looking ahead to your vacation and are looking for an eco friendly bed and breakfast in Connecticut, you might want to consider going to http://www.greenrocksinn.com. A friend of mine was there recently and raved about it. The owners have a deal with the gay/lesbian business organization here I NYC, Out Professionals. And spending your money in Connecticut is a way of showing that you’re going to support those who now support us.

On that note, I’m done for the day but there’ll be more tomorrow and remember, please make comments… always love to know what’s on your mind!

November 23, 2008

After throwing a party last night with my sort of recently kinda new roommate, I’m a little fuzzy today so my prose is equally as fuzzy, you’ll know why. Given that I’m fuzzy and it’s about 3 degrees here in New York (although it’s super sunny and gorgeous) I’ve decided to spend the day working from bed. I realize that most of you feel that I do my best work here but I’m talking more from a writing point of view (although there IS video camera perched on a desk at the end of my bed – which we used to capture the party goers responding to a question we posed to them so I suppose it’s possible for me to ahem do “that” kind of work).

Anyway, I’m rambling. Shocker. But I thought today would be a great day to clean out my IN emailbox since I’ve seen it mount up in recent weeks, months.

First off, whoops, I mentioned the wrong link in a recent blog about soul singer Nhojj.. many many apologies for that.. The correct link is http://www.nhojj.com .. great free music spins forth from the site to give you a taste of his style so make sure the volume is up on your computer.

Next, this is old although someone recently made a comment on the article. It’s from July and talks about how porn isn’t as recession proof as we always claimed it’s been. http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/07/turns-out-por-1.html I thought you all might get a kick out of it since it’s a snapshot of porn fans and our country from mid summer. It’s from when we were “in the middle of the gas crisis, pre Wall Street implosion” stage.. seems like so long ago (and that we were only crabbing about gas prices then.. sheesh!)

Anyway, this next link is a little more recent, it’s about People’s Sexiest Man Alive issue out on stands now. Apparently there’s a scratch and sniff aspect to it (although I can’t shake the nagging feeling that most of the guys tagged as sexiest men alive would rather have picked a well worn jockstrap as their favorite smell but maybe that’s wishful thinking on my part)

Next, Channel 1 Releasing has announced a new exclusive, a hot little honey named Jeremy Bilding who fits the bill exactly for what Chi Chi LaRue (who celebrated her birthday last week, happy birthday chister) looks for in a hot model: tall, dark, handsome, abs, big dick. You can see more of him in upcoming releases as well as at http://www.C1R.com

Also recently signed as an exclusive for both Jet Set Men http://www.jetsetmen.com and the website http://www.collegedudes247.com is muscle guy Adam Campbell. The Jet Set press announced that Campbell has just turned 19 in September is really into Facebook (see you there, partner!) and he’s from somewhere in the Midwest. The Jet Set folks are comparing Campbell to their other shared exclusive, Aaron James, and they see the same ‘mainstream appeal’ in him that they see in James.

And speaking of Jet Set, Chris Steele has just finished shooting their latest feature, SCREWED which will star Cayden Banks, Rod Daily, Vince Ferelli, David Taylor, Shane Frost, Tyler Marks, Austin Wrigley, TC, Kash, Satal, Lucas Knowles and Mason Ross. It’s a prison flick and should be all kinds of nasty (particularly with Steele at the helm).

In other news, Matthew Breen (former publisher of OUT) was recently named the executive editor of The Advocate (so we New Yorkers had to say goodbye to him but all reports are that he’s settling in well) and Don Weise,a veteran in mainstream publishing, was named Publisher of Alyson Books. Meanwhile, promoter Chris Ryan has started working with Gay Socialites’ Charles Winters’ Sunday night Hot Mess at HK (see http://www.gaysocialites.com for details). Winters was recently hired to be director of marketing at the club. So congrats to all of you on your great new jobs!

And finally, if you like it when crazy fun people do crazy fun things, you should check out the Improv Everywhere site to catch up on what they’re doing these days. From arranging a zap at a prominent New York based men’s store to literally stopping traffic inside Grand Central Station, the group finds interesting and fun things to do to shake things up. The most recent foray was for the group to go to JFK airport and greet total strangers upon their arrival. It’s fun and part of that random acts of kindness that we hear so often about but see so infrequently. You can see the JFK event at http://improveverywhere.com and you can buy their dvd at http://improveverywhere.com/dvd/.

Ok that's enough for today.. more this week! (and don't forget about Jackpot Porno Bingo on Wednesday night at Pieces!)

November 20, 2008

Last night's Porno Bingo pics are now posted below in the gallery.. enjoy! the night was a blast and featured a smash performance by Nohjj http://www.nohjj.com, a ssssssexy strip by Tre Xavier www.tre-x.com lots of crazy antics of drag king Macha and drag queen Appolonia Cruz (both performing at BAAD next month) and a special appearance by a couple of the super hot members of the upcoming BAAD show Los Nutcrackers!